Ahhhh, so we are at the very beginning of new season. I'm guessing your summer season is also a bit slower, maybe you have no classes at all, maybe some, maybe you're doing open-air classes... In any case, September is time for a new boost to your work, to your marketing and to your classes. I'll try to give you some tips on how to do it best.
Whether you are working as an self-employed artist or you are working within a fitness center or dance school, you have 2 main obligations before (as well as during) the season.
1. BE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO
There is no time in your career when you can honestly say »Now I'm good enough, I don't need to improve any more«. This kind of good enough never comes really. Because you can always be even better in some way. So always strive to be better then you were last season, last month or yesterday.
Here are some question to help you find areas where you can improve today:
- Is my body strength good for new season start? Am I in shape to start teaching?
- What have I learned in previous year about my students (what they like/dislike, what they need, what they want) and how can I incorporate it into my work now?
- Can I do something about my playlists to make it even more attractive for my students?
- Are there any technical challenges that keep popping up during year, that I can improve now (sound system, app or phone crashes, too loud music for venues next to yours...)?
- How can I improve my technique? Which is the first thing I can do, to improve my technique?
- How can I improve my teaching skills (cuing, motivation, explanation)? Which is the first thing I can do now to make it easier for my students to follow?
- How can I work on my facial expression and body language (to present positive energy, lightness of choreographies and/or exercises, to make my students feel secure)? Which is the first thing I can incorporate into my teaching now?
- Am I one of those instructors, who is always coming in a bit late, later then all your students or even always late for a couple of minutes? Can you think about your time management skills and organize yourself so you leave home 10 minutes earlier?
Don't get overwhelmed by all this. Pick 3 topics you feel confident about or you know are your weakest link and start working on them today. Take baby steps. Don't strive for perfection immediately. Step by step, you'll get a long way.
2. DO GOOD PROMOTION
So, what I want to stress most here, is, even though you might be working for someone else (fitness studio or dance school), cooperate with promotional skills. It's your common job to make promotion for your classes. Don't be a diva and just show up for classes, but partner up with your employer and help them fill up your classes. If you are self-employed, I know you know you have to, so I don't need to tell you you have to. :)
I will just give you some basic pointers on how to do promotion.
Secret to good promotion is good strategy. So maybe don't just go head first into it, but make a little plan on how you will do it.
- First gather as much material as you have. Surely you have some photos and videos from your work or you can still make them. It doesn't have to be professional, it can be whatever you have.
- Next, think of which channels you can use: Do you have a Facebook profile/page/group, Instagram profile, TikTok, do you have emails from your students, do you have a webpage, can you make flyers and spread them somewhere, can you hang posters somewhere? Again you don't need everything, just choose what you have, what you can use and where you know your potential and existing students can see it.
- Make a timeline of where and when you will publish something. Draw an Excel table, choose let's say two weeks before start of the classes and fill in when you will publish what. With social media, make plan for regular Posts as well as Stories. With Stories use a little from your material and a little from your daily life.
- 3, 2, 1, action! Start posting! Keep positive in your communication. And be authentic. Invite those people that will like you and stay with you, you don't want haters in your classes. :)
Hope this helps a little. I will prepare a detailed book on marketing and improving yourself later on, so you can learn all the useful secrets that will make you stand out even more.
For now, start with this. And take baby steps, always. Nobody got good overnight. The recipe for success is not the same for everyone. You have to learn about yourself and your students as you go. Do trial and error. Find out what works best and implement it. Step by step.
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Good luck to you all! Wish you an amaaaaaazing start of the season. <3
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